A proposed Lawton City Code amendment that would allow larger electronic signs near residential areas will greatly reduce the number of variance requests to the regulation, City of Lawton officials said Thursday.
The City Planning Commission unanimously recommended a change in the city’s sign ordinance that would allow electronic sign surface areas to be up to 64 square feet in size if they are within 200 feet of properties with residential or agricultural zoning. Now, signs that fall into that category are limited to 25 square feet in size.
City staff has been looking at the issue for a while, said Charlotte Brown, planning and subdivision administrator for the city’s Planning Department. City planners say electronic message center signs are becoming more common, with use greatly expanded beyond businesses. With the increasing use for the signs and desires for larger signs, the Board of Adjustment is seeking a marked increase in variance applications.
That board is tasked with analyzing requests to vary from city building codes, and its members have approved eight such variances since January 2019, Brown said. Most of those variances were small and would have fit within the new size, she said (only two of the eight were larger than the 64 square foot limit). After receiving a request from the Board of Adjustment to look into the issue, city planners talked to sign companies and were told 64 square feet was a “reasonable size limitation.”
While the signs could be larger if the revised ordinance goes into effect, city code still specifies such signs must be dimmed to an appropriate level (0.3 foot candles above existing ambient lighting) to control “light pollution” or light generated by the signs that may have an effect on nearby properties.
Neal Springborn, the commissioner who represents the CPC on the Board of Adjustment, said the adjustment in city code is badly needed.
“The majority of requests to the Board of Adjustment are for signs,” he said.
City planners have said such electronic signs are more widely used than ever before, with uses beyond the business application. For example, in Lawton, many churches have begun installing electronic signs to convey messages about their church and activities, and many of those churches are located within or adjacent to residential housing areas. In addition, public schools throughout the city also are using electronic signs to advertise their activities.
Requirement for electronic signs are contained within Chapter 18 of Lawton City Code, under Electronic Message Center Signs. In commercial and industrial zoning areas such signs may be up to 200 square feet in size, but when those signs are located within 200 feet of any property containing residential or agricultural zoning, signs cannot be more than 25 square feet in size (that would change to 64 square feet).
In addition, the signs must be separated from residential and agricultural zoning districts by a building, screening or “other mitigating factors, as approved by the director of planning” to lessen the impact of their light trespass. For some facilities along arterials, for example, that may mean keeping the sign close to the road and placing the building between the sign and nearby residences. In addition, signs may not exceed a brightness level of 0.3 foot candles, a measure of light intensity that can be taken with special equipment. That level is calculated to make the sign visible to those passing by, while limiting intrusion into nearby residences.
The City Council will have to act upon the recommended change before it would go into effect.
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January 17, 2021 at 02:00PM
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Lawton City Planning Commission recommends larger electronic signs near residential areas - The Lawton Constitution
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